are we as some argue, maybing too much of the fiscal cliff deadline? would it really be a catastrophe to hit it, go over it, maybe for a little while. joining me now from london, richard quest, the host of quest means business on cnn international. i got 60 seconds. i'll go first. could be catastrophic if congress doesn't get a deal by january 1st, the government will try to soften the blow of spending cuts and tax increases. they could delay the with holdings that people pay or they could tell agencies to accelerate the spending at the new year to mitigate the cuts that are coming, but all of that assumes that congress will actually do something. otherwise, it could be catastrophic. i say don't count on it. if a deal can't be cut in the next three weeks, why assume they'll cut one in january? this is a lame duck congress. they're waiting for a new congress to be sworn in. think back to the debt ceiling when nothing got done. think back to the discussions about t.a.r.p. the bottom line is i am not convinced they will do the things to avoid the catastro